In many instances, utility providers desire to electronically communicate with the utility service meters for numerous purposes including scheduling disconnection or connection of utility services to the metered loads, automatic meter reading (AMR), load shedding and load control, automatic distribution and smart-grid applications, outage reporting, providing additional services such as Internet, video, and audio, etc. In many of these instances, to perform these functions the meters must be configured to communicate with one or more computing devices through a communications network, which can be wired, wireless or a combination of wired and wireless, as known to one of ordinary skill in the art.
In many instances, such meters are equipped with an electromechanical switch that can be actuated remotely to perform functions such as disconnection or connection of utility services to the metered loads, load shedding and load control, and the like. Generally, determination of switch actuation is accomplished by detecting the presence, or absence, of the utility service on the load side of the meter. For example, if the utility service provided is electricity, then operation of the switch is determined through electronic acknowledgement of switch actuation by means of detection of current flow (or detecting absence of current flow) on the load side meter terminals. Similarly, services such as gas or water can be detected by detecting flow (or absence of flow) on the load side of the meter. However, by using only a single method of feedback i.e. electronic, errors are possible, exposing field technicians and property owners to dangerous situations and meter manufactures to safety liability.
Therefore, systems and methods are desired that provide reliable acknowledgment of switch actuation that overcome challenges present in the art, some of which are described above.